We Created the Society that Made Donald Trump the Most Powerful Man on Earth

My husband blames Dr. Spock’s making children the center of attention and his focus on their feelings for everything wrong with our nation now. He has a point.
We began to stress being accepted for just being, instead of pointing out that though every person is of value, life requires work, and that while feelings are valid, they are not what we can safely base our actions on. When we recognized that some children turn off to subjects when criticized, we forgot that a lot of teaching is pointing out where and how something can be made better. Instead of working on ways to help children accept that everyone needs to learn from others to grow better at things, we told them everything they did was wonderful as it was. As a culture we became unteachable.
Values are different than feelings. In our rush to do away with condemnation of those making serious mistakes, we neglected to teach the difference between condemnation and consequences. We did not recognize the difference between guilt and a regret that leads to change. We broke free of legalism so much that we didn’t explain that stealing a hotel towel may seem unimportant, but when most people do it, ultimately everyone ends up paying for it with higher prices.
We became fixated on money as the bottom line, rather than quality, service, or long term dependability. Machines are no longer built to last as long as possible or even to be repaired. Appearances and advertising tricks, rather than quality of goods, became the means. And the end began to be accepted as justification for any means.
Our American society has settled for appearances over reality. Many, if not most, retail stores/chains raise prices before a sale and see this as smart business not deception, lies and actually stealing. When the internet made overseas factories and catalogs the easy way to shop, no one bothered with the fact that there were no longer consistent and reliable size numbers from clothes made in different countries. And now sending something back has ended up costing the consumer twice as much, even if they never actually get a product. The manufacturer and catalog company take no responsibility.
The focus on appearances and the new affluence that came with two bread winners in a family led to easy financing for extravagant life styles with no secure foundation. And we saw what came of that with those that knowingly facilitated this on a massive scale experiencing no comparable consequences.
Women took feminism to mean becoming like men, instead of taking traditional feminine values into the workplace, halls of power, and government. Freedom from being baby factories and maids has been taken as freedom to be as casual and shallow in sexual relationships as traditional male Don Juans. Freedom to feel comfortable in and ownership of our bodies has led to blossoming thirteen year old girls going around half naked and has made it almost impossible for anyone in their retirement years to buy a blouse or dress that doesn’t expose normal, though definitely not attractive, aging of our bodies. There’s a fine line between freedom and license. Now we are getting the back lash to the other extreme.
Theories are lovely, as long as they are balanced by common sense and some awareness of the realities of human nature.
Wake up, America. We created the society that not only gave birth to Donald Trump, but made him the most powerful person on earth.

When I think things are bad I remember that corruption is a pretty old thing. False front stores were set up to give the impression of something solid in old ghost towns, right? People have always been about appearances–at least pharisees
existed 🙂

Americans are no worse than the rest of the world–all fallen people under a spell.

I agree we get what we deserve but Hillary is no great shakes either. Her joking about killing world leaders was highly disturbing to me especially in light of the chaos wrought in the Middle East and the humanitarian disaster made worse by US policy.

On that happy note, have a wonderful Christmas and here’s hoping things won’t be as bad as they seem in the new year (but then in this fallen world I’m not sure).

I didn’t think Hillary was great shakes. And when one of my relatives voted for Trump because they didn’t want to vote for a corrupt
politician, I said, “You must not have ever voted for anyone other than Jimmy Carter then.” Probably the only difference now is that we don’t even know the difference. Ethics isn’t a word in most people’s vocabulary, never-the-less standards to live by. As far as I can see the rich have always considered themselves above the rules and the poor and minorities felt the rules were only used against them, not to protect them. So, the middle class was the only group even concerned enough to try to play by them. We are slowly wiping out the middle class, so we will soon not even have anyone who tries or pretends. Probably Dr. Spock isn’t the culprit, rather the failure of religion to nurture spirituality, once hell became considered archaic. I know in my teens the disgrace of unwed mothers was a stronger deterrent to sex, than any morality on my part. Gotta be a better way than condemnation or eternal flames to teach us to consider consequences. My son and grandson experiences teaching in Asia have made me aware that we have been better than many places in the world about graft and my experiences when traveling in Germanic countries in a wheel chair have made me aware of the incredible difference in how we treat the handicapped.The fact that we impeached Richard Nixon and had a turnover in government without bloodshed is amazing. That Martin Luther King’s nonviolent protests brought about integration without a race war also says a lot about us. I think we are at a crossroads, at least I hope we haven’t gone beyond it. Love the dialogue, it keeps me listening to both others and to how what I say is being heard. Thanks for taking the time.

excellent analysis… you’ve summed up everything in the last statement:”Wake up, America. We created the society that not only gave birth to Donald Trump, but made him the most powerful person on earth.” – alas, as sooo true!!!